Vanessa Foster Cooksey’s grandmother is 104, soon to be 105 on March 16.
Cooksey remembers spending all day with her grandmother at church as a girl, growing and establishing her faith. Those lessons remain at the heart of her life and work, said Cooksey, Wells Fargo Advisors’ senior vice president of community affairs.
“As an individual and professional, that spiritual grounding has been very important, and it helps me to keep things in perspective,” she said. “A lot of my career roles have been transitional or newly-created positions, so they involve a level of risk. To be able to lean on my faith is important.”
Her newest leadership role is leading Wells Fargo Advisors’ nationwide program for charitable giving, volunteerism and community and civic involvement. She accepted the position in December.
“Vanessa’s experience and leadership is essential to our efforts in taking our philanthropy and volunteerism to the next level,” said Mary Mack, incoming president of Wells Fargo Advisors. “I am confident that she will quickly add value to this important work through our key partnerships and initiatives.”
Cooksey has never shied away from new experiences, and that mindset has landed her in a large variety of industries – including nonprofit, city government, public schools, broadcast, grocery, philanthropy and consumer packaging.
“My hope is to contribute a different level of strategic thinking that helps to connect the dots,” she said. “My perspective is very diverse. I bring creative ideas to the table and know how to get them done because I’ve done them before.”
Cooksey leads a four-person team that focuses primarily on community investment opportunities in financial education, healthy aging, workforce development and arts and culture. In 2012, the firm and its employees donated $12.5 million to non-profits across the country and invested 133,000 volunteer hours in more than 1,200 charitable organizations nationwide.
“It makes good business sense,” she said. “What’s in it for Wells Fargo Advisors is growth and innovation. Our business thrives because of the community. It is necessary to invest in the community because we have a relationship.”
Always recruited
When Cooksey graduated with a bachelor’s degree in radio/TV/film from University of Texas at Austin, she applied for only one job.
“My mother was so scared, but it was the job I wanted,” she said.
It was an apprenticeship at Turner Broadcasting, which was also coupled with a management training program. They selected 10 graduates from across country out of 4,000 applicants, and Cooksey was one of them.
From there, she spent several years as a freelance consultant and producer, working for various media outlets and some retailers, including Mary Kay Cosmetics. She made a big shift into the public realm in 2001, when she became the communications director for the Atlanta Committee for Public Education.
Cooksey hasn’t had to apply for a position in many years because she’s been recruited for all her positions since 2003, when she served as a sales marketing specialist at CNN Newsource.
She has acted as senior marketing manager for Cartoon Network in Atlanta and the e-communication manager in the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Communication.
Her parents were born and raised in Kansas City, but she had never ventured to St. Louis until she was recruited here by Save-A-Lot Food Stores in 2008 as the director of communications and community relations. She left St. Louis for about a year to work with SUPERVALU, and then was soon hired back by Anheuser-Busch in 2011 as senior director of community affairs. From Anheuser-Busch, she joined Wells Fargo Advisors.
“Some people say St. Louis is kind of hard to break into, but my experience has been that I feel welcomed,” she said. “We have so many ways that St. Louis can continue to grow, and I am so glad I can be part of that.”
Out of all the companies Cooksey has worked for, she said Wells Fargo Advisors is “the top” when it comes to “walking the talk of diversity.”
Mack’s selection as president of the company was a clear sign that it values diversity, she said.
“There’s not much separation between diversity and inclusion and true business practice,” she said. “It’s one of our core values. We are bringing that to life and acting on it. I’ve been enough places where diversity has not been practiced that this is really special.”
